Runaway Devil
62

Dusty

Her hair was so long. It reached past her shoulders, the longest I had ever seen on her. I couldn't help but crave to run my fingers through it. Her head had always been shaved, and her face was just as piercing now as it was then. Her eyes could tear you apart, and I watched them peek out from behind her dark hair, blood in the strands.

My heart beat wildly as I watched her in her blood-soaked glory. Despite the storm brewing inside me, I sat still and quiet. The soldiers guarding me were instructed to stay at their posts, but none of them were good at following directions. They were tense, watching the battle unfold around them, watching their brothers die, and feeling helpless. One of them couldn't take it anymore and abandoned his post, the other following with only a moment's hesitation. Only one needed to disobey for the other to follow, it would seem.

I crouched low, glancing left and right, before I lifted my hands above my head and slammed them down over my knees. The force and angle weakened them enough for me to pull them apart. Even though the chain was broken, the cuffs themselves were like bracelets on my wrists.

I stayed low, surveying. I looked for a body that still had a weapon on its person. Karau had taken a long sword, having lost her other weapons early on in the battle. She used it as an extension of her arm, she worked with the weapon and respected it. Every chance I got, I would look at her. She moved like she always had, with grace and strength. She fought like a true soldier, a warrior with no equal. She was marvelous.

I grabbed a short sword from a fallen soldier but quickly abandoned it for a battle-ax just a few feet from him. It was a double-handed weapon and relied on strength and accuracy. If you missed a swing with a full-sized battle-ax, you would be dead before you got another one. It was for a warrior who only needed one strike to kill. It was perfect.

I lifted it, swinging it a few times, feeling the weight. I took off, letting my human skin fall, and my true form come forward. I took one step with my human legs and the next was with my legs, my hooves shaking the ground beneath me. The burn of my muscles wrapping around my bones sent a shiver of excitement through me.

Now I could finally rain hell upon them and fight alongside my other half.

I watched with numbness that was growing from the center of my chest. Everything was so big and moving so fast. The smell of blood permeated the air, making my stomach turn dangerously.

Kara moved in a way I had never seen before. She had horns, and wings, and a tail, and huge teeth, and claws, and she was one of them. She was a beast, some sort of monster. She was covered in blood, moving from body to body, with no hesitation. She didn't even look real, I didn't know that person. I didn't know her. She wasn't Kara.

She was fast, cold, and calculated. She knew what she was doing, she had killed before and often. The world spun around me, my chest tightened, and I couldn't move my lips. A tingling broke out across my face and suddenly I couldn't move anything. I shook like a dead leaf on a windy day. My body was no longer my own.

The beasts' prisoner broke free from his chains in the chaos. He lifted his own weapon and shed his skin. I watched without processing what was happening. He had the lower half of a bull, and I wondered if everything was bull down there. It was a silly thought, but a valid one all the same. Before I could wonder any further, the sound of ripping flesh grabbed my attention.

I looked to find Kara standing over a body, with the lower half of someone's jaw in her hand. She had pierced under the chin and ripped, pulling half of someone's face from their head. All the breath left my lungs and my head floated above my shoulders. She was breathing hard, already having killed a good number of the beasts.

I stared, wide-eyed, at her. I looked at her face, searching desperately for some part of the person I thought I once knew. She felt my gaze and found my eyes in the mess. She stopped completely for the first time since the fighting started. The partial jaw slipped from her fingers and she stared back at me. Her eyes were apologetic, and... scared? Scared for me, or for her? I cocked my head to the side with the silent question. Her eyes softened and she gulped.

There she was. There was my Kara, she was always there. She blurred as tears filled my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away, fearful that she would disappear from sight. I no longer felt the cold, or the ache in my legs, or the stiffness in my back. Me and her, that's all there was.

Something moved behind her, a flash of metal. I screamed a warning before I realized what I was doing. It tore through my throat as I sat up on my knees. She had just enough time to move before it caught her shoulder. It would have been her head if she had remained still. She let out a snarl and swung her sword, lopping off the arm of the beast who dared to try and kill her.

I couldn't tell if the wound was serious, it all looked the same to me. I grabbed at my chest and let out a breath of relief that she still stood. But it was short-lived. Before I knew what was happening, my cheek met the ground with enough force to shake my brain in my skull. I gasped shakily, it felt like I had an elephant on my back.

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A hand grabbed the back of my neck like they were trying to rip my spine out. They turned me over, transitioning their grip to my throat. I uselessly clawed at his wrists, up his arms, and reached for his face. My skull pounded with each slowing heartbeat, he was going to squeeze my eyes from their sockets. Hot tears dripped down the sides of my face as my world started to darken. I opened my mouth, hoping to call for help, to scream, but only a wet gurgle escaped my quickly constricting throat.

Dark stars danced in front of my eyes, the face of my attacker still unknown to me. I was going to die, if he doesn't choke me to death, his weight on top of me would be my undoing. My arms fell on their own accord, I was no longer able to feel or use them. The battle faded around me, the sounds of slaughter lessened until all I could hear was my dropping heartbeat.

I was resigned, knowing full well I could do nothing. But, right as I thought I was done, the weight was lifted. My lungs pulled in air, dragged it into my body despite the sharp pain throughout it. I gasped, shook, and coughed. My throat spasmed with each intake of breath, but it was breath nonetheless. I rolled to my side, curling my body inward, trembling with each painful inhale.

I opened my eyes, trying to ignore the pain behind them and failing. Kara was crouched above me, sword in one hand, the other supporting herself next to my head. She was braced in a defensive position. I looked up at her, shuddering. She was snarling a dangerous warning, bloody mucus and chunks of flesh still in her fangs. Her wings were fully extended, shielding us from potential attacks.

I laid there, staring up at her, watching her save me. There were a few beasts who attempted to engage, but she struck them down without a problem. She remained on top of me, determined not to leave me lying there alone. Some blood had spattered across my face, but I barely felt it. All of my attention was on her. She was so much bigger than I remembered. But there was a beauty and power that was mesmerizing. There was a savage rawness to her, all of her. Her ferocity was breathtaking. I couldn't help but reach out, my fingertips shakily stretching towards her face.

Her skin was surprisingly soft. Upon feeling my touch, she closed her mouth, putting her fangs away. Her eyes were alert and no less threatening without her snarl. I couldn't care less what the other beasts were doing, she was keeping them at bay. She wouldn't look at me, fearful of what would happen if her focus wavered.

I felt the blood caked in her hair, the sweat that slicked her skin, and the heat beneath the surface. At that moment, I felt no fear. And I knew that I would never feel fear again if Kara was close.

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